Thursday, June 27, 2013

The day after the Supreme Court rulings striking down DOMA and reinstating Prop 8, we still are celebrating. Such significant contributions to breaking down the sexual orientation hierarchy are exciting and rewarding.

No doubt, if you support a religion where man is not made in the image of "God," but "God" is made on the image of a man on top of a hierarchy, then you might believe that Jesus would be disappointed in yesterday's ruling.

But for those of us who understand that human interpretation of religion in often used to further hierarchies, we more likely would think that Jesus is smiling, unless instead weeping tears of joy.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

People on top of hierarchies keep the hierarchies going because they perceive that they benefit from them.

Why do men perceive that they benefit from being violent toward their partners?

Are they taught that being in control is more important than valuing a human relationship that is rooted in equality and fairness? Are they taught that to use violence as a control tactic to keep a hierarchy strong is more important than the relationship they are destroying? Do they believe that men should get what they want at the expense of women who are lower on their hierarchies?

Do they pass the blame for any of their problems down the hierarchy to their female partners, keeping accountability away from themselves on top? With the priority of maintaining the hierarchy, do men remain emotionally detached from the negative effects of their actions on women?

Men are not born violent, but our system of hierarchies keeps them believing violence for them is normal.

Friday, June 14, 2013

It will be a great day for our country's spiritual health when so many of our religions are no longer used to promote outdated hierarchies. Unfortunately, this technique has been successful for decades, as when hierarchy conservators meld their religions with support for hierarchies, it is easier for them to hide behind their "noble causes."

On this website, we describe how this works, under the tab "Your Life" and the webpage "Religion." In hierarchies, "Man" is not made in the image of God, but God is made in the image of a man on top of a hierarchy.

Three examples around the United States this week illustrate the point very well.

As we see the erosion of hierarchies in every corner of the globe, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said that there is a "war on
Christianity, not just from liberal elites here at home, but worldwide." GOP leadership is saying 'a war on Christianity' is funded by taxpayers. Prominent religious conservatives this week are continuing to push the party to embrace limits on women's right to control their bodies and gay and lesbian rights.

Three weeks after the Boy Scouts of America voted to allow gay youth to join, Frank Page, president of
the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said, "There will be a mass exodus over time. Churches are
finally going to have to come to realize – there is a point when you
say, ‘sorry, no more.'"

A "North Carolina Defense of Religion Act" proposed this spring would allow a state religion, presumably Christianity. As part of ongoing "Moral Monday" protests, 83 opponents were arrested this week for opposing
the conservative agenda of North Carolina's Republican-run state
government. "Forward together — not one step back" — a theme of the more than 380
protesters arrested in the six weekly protests held so far. The rally, organized by the NAACP, was dominated by clergy members whose religions do not support the hierarchical laws proposed by the Republican-run state government that they say will harm minorities and the poor.

We think that Mr. Page has a great train of thought. It has come time to say "sorry, no more," to hierarchies masquerading as religion.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Today we already have news of three bomb threats in our country. It is only a little after 9:00 am on the west coast – the day has just begun.

Princeton University in New Jersey ordered the campus to be evacuated because of a bomb threat to "multiple unspecified campus buildings."

Two bomb threats near the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta caused the buildings housing the state Attorney General's office and the state Supreme Court to be evacuated.

The Richmond International Airport in Virginia was evacuated after a threatening phone call.

We pointed out in our Washington Post op-ed that the people committing mass shootings of people they don't know tend to white males, way more than their numbers in the general population. We again last week saw a white male kill random people at and near Santa Monica College in California, with an intent to kill more given his massive amount of ammunition and his shots that didn't kill.

Would we obtain the same type of statistics if we were to single out this top-of-the-hierarchy group of white males for other crimes, such as these bomb threats this morning? We instead are trained not to hold them accountable as a group, and instead believe that their actions represent all of our society instead of discussing how the white male culture helps to create and sustain the violence in our country.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Discussion of sexual assault in the military is gaining steam. Now we are wondering why officers want to allow commanders to ignore allocations of assault. The conversation is still focusing on justice for women, which is important, but does not address the problem, only the result. Let's talk about the cause of the problem - the culture that makes men believe that attacking women benefits them.

Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, said that the crisis has grown so dire that he could no longer recommend a young woman to join the armed services. Hummm...women (the lower group on the hierarchy) have to again change their lives and lose opportunities because men (the higher group) are not being held accountable in real ways.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, told the military leaders that not all commanders are committed to dealing with sexual harassment and assault. Some, she said, do not welcome women in the military. Others don't "differentiate between a slap on the ass and rape because they merge all these crimes together." Hierarchical techniques of violence and assault have always helped to create an elite club (in this case of men), and measures to let women know they are not welcome are encouraged. Is that what men are trying to accomplish?

This conversation needs a new focus. In hierarchies, people on top act in ways that they perceive is to their benefit. SO...why do men really believe it is to their benefit to attack women?